


Black Coffee

by veridian



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, sandalphon and the sister squad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 22:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15650511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veridian/pseuds/veridian
Summary: Sandalphon's having difficulty dealing with someone who looks exactly like the person he loved and lost. A certain knight is perhaps eerily qualified to help him through it.A sequel of sorts, or at least something adjacent to, "To Carry."





	Black Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> i relate to sandalphon and apollo because i too am depressed and gay

It's always a little strange seeing the Black Knight without her helmet on, and this time is no exception. Naturally, she's only human; she has to eat, and helmets aren't exactly helpful to that process.

But Orchid inviting her to their increasingly common coffee hours is still unnerving in a lot of ways.

"Apollo. Do you want sugar in your coffee?" Orchid asks, looking up at her.

"No. Drinking it black is fine. Coffee of this quality doesn't need sweeteners." Orchid nods as enthusiastically as Sandalphon has ever seen her in response - though it's still an almost comically lethargic reaction. "In any case, Sandalphon. Orchid said you had something you wanted to talk to me about."

"What?" Sandalphon gives Orchid a look over the rim of his cup. She nods back at him, but he really has no idea what the Black Knight is talking about. "Look, I apologize for you being dragged in here for no reason, but - "

"Lucio," Orchid interrupts, and Sandalphon can do little to stop a pained grimace from creeping onto his face. "The man that Djeeta picked up last month. He looks like Lucifer." When the Black Knight doesn't seem to understand the significance of that, Orchid leans toward her, an intense look in her eyes. Whatever she's getting at, it's clearly important to her. "Sandalphon loves Lucifer. But now he's gone."

The Black Knight's expression softens, and she puts down her cup. "I see. Sandalphon, do you know how Orchid came to be?"

He listens as Orchid recalls the story of her own birth, her realization as a person, and her desire for the Black Knight to be happy, even as the knight herself was convinced she would have to tear her heart in two no matter which girl - Orchis or Orchid - remained. That she was able to reunite with her dear childhood friend and still keep the girl she had become so attached to is nothing short of a miracle.

To be honest, it makes Sandalphon jealous, and that doesn't go unnoticed by either of the young women sitting across the table from him.

"Obviously, the situations are different," the Black Knight admits. She swirls the coffee in her cup, staring into it as though willing a solution to Sandalphon's problem to appear from within it. "But I do understand what it's like. To see someone who can't possibly be there in someone else's face."

Orchid nods. "Apollo is here to help you carry your feathers. She forgave me for looking like Orchis, and now we're happy."

"It's not that simple," Sandalphon says, frustration gnawing at his voice, and the Black Knight raises a hand to stop Orchid from continuing to speak.

"I know," she says. "And you hate yourself for every moment, wondering why your heart won't realize what your mind can't turn away from. You try to do or say things that person would react a certain way to, and it hurts when they don't. It's an insult when they don't. Hearing their voice saying things that person would never say shakes you to your core. It makes you sick, keeps you up at night, and leaves you drinking coffee to kill your appetite because you're so stressed that you can't eat."

She leans back in her chair and watches Sandalphon wilt as she hits nothing but bulls-eyes. He has no response, not when everything she's said is correct.

"However." The Black Knight gently puts her cup on the table. "You are not worthy of the person you lost if you let this haunt you forever."

"Apollo," Orchid says, distressed.

"What is it that you dislike about this man?" she continues, as though Orchid isn't even here. "His mannerisms? Personality? Or simply the fact that he isn't the person you want him to be?"

After a few moments of silence, Sandalphon realizes the question isn't rhetorical. Finally, he weakly offers: "His vanity would be tiresome regardless of what he looked like."

The Black Knight chuckles, picking up her cup. "Then there you have it. You've already worked past it more quickly than I did. The healing will happen in time."

Orchid is still frowning up at her, Lloyd lurking over her shoulders. "You were supposed to help him be friends with Lucio."

"There's no sense in telling this one something he doesn't want to hear. If I recall correctly, last time that happened, islands fell from the sky," the Black Knight says dryly. "If they become friends, so be it. If not, he has you."

"He has both of us," Orchid says, pouting.

"Ah, yes. Lloyd, too."

"I mean you and me, Apollo." The smaller girl's pout only intensifies until the Black Knight sighs, looking back at Sandalphon.

"If you don't mind, I think I'm going to end up drinking coffee with you more often, whether I want to or not."

Orchid tilts her head, and her voice as she asks a question is sorrowful. "Do you not want to?"

"I - Orchid..."

Sandalphon snorts, the closest thing he's come to genuine laughter in a long time. "You're welcome to my coffee, then, whether you want it or not."

**Author's Note:**

> hmu at @duobrando on twitter for indescribably bad shitposts


End file.
